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Good day, denizens of OC.net! Per our tradition, the forum will shut down for Clean Monday, beginning around 9pm Sunday evening (2/18) and ending around 9pm Monday evening (2/19). In the spirit of the coming Forgiveness Sunday, I ask you to forgive me for the sins I have committed against you. At the end of Great and Holy Week, the Forum will also shut down for Holy Friday and Holy Saturday (times TBA).

I don't often ask for prayers for my patients, but Peter is a special case.Peter is 30 and a survivor of childhood abuse. Peter was hospitalized on Friday night due to suicidality. He has attempted suicide 3 times in the last 12 months. Last night, Peter tried to hang himself with a cord he had secreted into the hospital and was miraculously found by one of the nurses by chance, who rescued him. Peter was immediately placed on suicide watch with someone watching him continually, yet he managed to make another noose with another cord under the cover of the bedclothes and tie one end around his neck, and the other to the bed and turn over to put enough pressure on the noose to make himself fall unconscious. The observing nurse noted the unusual position of his head, and found the second noose and cut him free and he was resuscitated again. This was his second attempt at suicide in less than 3 hours after his first attempt.In my world view, the existence of chocolate is, in itself, is enough reason to go on living, but in Peter's world, there is nothing to live for, and living is too painful. Peter is the highest level of risk of suicide I have ever come across, so much so, that I'm not sure he will still be alive when I commence my on-call again tonight. Please keep Peter in your prayers.

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If you're living a happy life as a Christian, you're doing something wrong.

Question a friend, perhaps he did not do it; but if he did anything so that he may do it no more.A hasty quarrel kindles fire,and urgent strife sheds blood.If you blow on a spark, it will glow;if you spit on it, it will be put out; and both come out of your mouth

As a result of a thousand million years of evolution, the universe is becoming conscious of itself, able to understand something of its past history and its possible future.-- Sir Julian Sorell Huxley FRS

Lord, have mercy on this man, Peter. Holy Martyr Cyprian, Holy Fathers Nikita of Pereyaslav, Makarius of Egypt, Antony the Great, intercede for him. Most Holy Theotokos, protect him. Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered. As smoke vanishes, so let them vanish; just as wax melts before fire, so the demons will perish from the presence of those who love God and who sign themselves with the sign of the Cross. Lord, have mercy on Peter, and let al the demons who beseige him vanish!

By your prayers, Peter is still alive despite a third attempt on his own life yesterday afternoon, this time by smashing his head against the wall. He is going to have a black eye as a result, but thankfully there are no fractures. Because of his head injury, he couldn't be sedated, so he had to be moved to a soft room with padded walls and a mattress.

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If you're living a happy life as a Christian, you're doing something wrong.

By your prayers, Peter is still alive despite a third attempt on his own life yesterday afternoon, this time by smashing his head against the wall. He is going to have a black eye as a result, but thankfully there are no fractures. Because of his head injury, he couldn't be sedated, so he had to be moved to a soft room with padded walls and a mattress.

I am a caseworker for mentally ill adults, and last year I had a client who was such a danger to herself that she was admitted to the state lockdown facility for the forseeable future. I pray that Peter can get the right kind of help (human and divine) to keep him from a similar fate. Lord have mercy on the work of your hands!

By your prayers, Peter is still alive despite a third attempt on his own life yesterday afternoon, this time by smashing his head against the wall. He is going to have a black eye as a result, but thankfully there are no fractures. Because of his head injury, he couldn't be sedated, so he had to be moved to a soft room with padded walls and a mattress.

Why is he so determined to die? Why does he have no hope?

I know you said he suffered abuse as a child, but is there more to this we are not aware of?

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"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jer 29:11

This morning, Peter woke from a deep sleep and seemed visibly relaxed, and cheerful. At first I was concerned because this is often a sign that someone who is suicidal has formulated a plan and resolved to die. I spent two hours with Peter after breakfast at his request to talk, and we seem to have got to the root cause of his suicidality, the cause which, up until today he had never told anyone. He had been carrying a burden which, up until today he felt he could never tell anyone. After we spoke for some time and he wept with relief for a while, I asked him what had caused him to pluck up the courage to tell me, and he said that he had an "amazing dream" where he was in a garden and he met a "tall, thin man with a long beard dressed in black and wearing a nun's veil" who smiled at him, then the man held up and touched Peter's lips "with his thumb an two fingers" and simply said "Open!" then vanished. Peter woke up and understood that he had to tell someone what had been troubling him for so many years.

I have a strong suspicion the "man" in Peter's dream was St. Ephrem of Nea Makri, the patron of the despairing and suicidal. Whoever he was, thank you all for your prayers!

« Last Edit: January 23, 2009, 07:40:52 PM by ozgeorge »

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If you're living a happy life as a Christian, you're doing something wrong.

As a result of a thousand million years of evolution, the universe is becoming conscious of itself, able to understand something of its past history and its possible future.-- Sir Julian Sorell Huxley FRS

Glory to God in His saints! May He continue to heal the work of His hands.

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Question a friend, perhaps he did not do it; but if he did anything so that he may do it no more.A hasty quarrel kindles fire,and urgent strife sheds blood.If you blow on a spark, it will glow;if you spit on it, it will be put out; and both come out of your mouth